About Us

Leading the delivery of private rented housing for families in the UK

We focus on delivering large-scale, high-quality, new housing schemes for the private rented sector.

While families are our main focus, our homes appeal to a cross-section of people, from singletons and young professional couples to retirees and those looking to downsize.

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The new homes that we deliver are for typically for institutional investors.

We have created an unrivalled property delivery and management platform for this purpose. The platform, which includes our house building partners, provides a professional and secure supply chain for the acquisition of sites, and construction and management of new homes. It enables us to deliver homes across most parts of the UK.

Our housing developments bring strong social and economic benefits, and it is important to us that we help to foster thriving communities.

HISTORY AND MILESTONES

We have been delivering new homes for the private rented sector since 2014.

Before that, Sigma had a well-established track record in assisting with property-related regeneration projects in the public sector, acting as a bridge between the public and private sectors. Under partnerships established with local authorities, we delivered new schools, community facilities, retail, leisure and commercial buildings as well as new homes.

  • 2014
  • 2015
  • 2016
  • 2017
  • 2018
  • 2019
  • 2020
  • 2021
  • 2022
  • 2023

2014

We have been delivering new homes for the private rented sector since 2014. Before that, Sigma had a well-established track record in assisting with property-related regeneration projects in the public sector, acting as a bridge between the public and private sectors. Under partnerships established with local authorities, we delivered new schools, community facilities, retail, leisure and commercial buildings as well as new homes.

Our first major portfolio of new-build rental homes for the private sector was for Gatehouse Bank and comprised 918 new family homes mainly in the North West of England. Construction started in 2014 and was completed in 2017.

2015

A second phase of homes to rent was launched in December 2015 with a new Gatehouse Bank plc fund. Named ‘UK PRS Properties,’ the fund is principally supported by the Kuwaiti Investment Authority and institutional shareholders from the state of Kuwait. This phase comprises a further 684 properties across 7 sites and has a total development cost of £84m. As with Project Thistle, all properties are marketed under the ‘DifRent’ brand.

2016

In 2016, we agreed a major funding arrangement with Homes England (formerly HCA), the executive non-departmental public body sponsored by the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government, which was founded as the government’s housing accelerator. This facility enables us to self-fund housing delivery, and complements Sigma’s activity for institutional investors.

The PRS Reit PLC

2017

In 2017, Sigma created The PRS REIT plc, which was floated on the London Stock Exchange in May that year. The PRS REIT is the UK’s first quoted Real Estate Investment Trust to focus on investment in new rental houses for families. It has £900m (gross) of spending power, including gearing, and, as Investment Adviser, we are responsible for overseeing and managing the deployment of these funds, in line with the PRS REIT’s investment objectives. We are well down the track of delivery, and expect the PRS REIT’s first portfolio to amount to over 5,000 new homes, spanning the major regions of England.

2018

The PRS REIT is building houses across the West Midlands and the North West, including Greater Manchester and Merseyside.

2019

In May 2019, The PRS REIT plc reaches its 1000th property, situated at Prescot Park in Merseyside.

Sigma is also working with its partners on delivering modular construction methods, increasing the speed of delivery, safety on-site and reducing its carbon footprint.

Sigma launches its Scottish PRS Fund with investment from Scottish Government’s Building Scotland Fund. Sigma’s Scottish Fund  will have an initial resource of £43m with £30m provided by the Building Scotland Fund in the form of a revolving credit facility.

Sigma also unveils plans to launch in London, working with Countryside properties to deliver new private rental apartments.

2020

The PRS REIT delivers its 3000th property in September 2020. The property is situated at its Milard Grange site in Houghton Regis.

Sigma launches its industry leading market research report, which takes a look at the wider private rental market across the UK, including renter demographics, attitudes to renting, the rental journey and what is important to the modern day renter.

Sigma Capital and EQT Real Estate launch £1bn residential joint venture to deliver high quality, new build homes for private rent in Greater London. The venture is supported by Homes England and is targeting the establishment of an initial portfolio of c.3,000 homes with a value of £1bn. Homes are expected to be built and completed over a period of at least 5 years.

2021

The PRS REIT delivers its 4000th property milestone under Sigma’s Simple Life brand in July 2021. The home was part of a housing development in Deeside consisting of 99 build to rent homes. The REIT’s end of year total comes to 4,489 homes.

Sigma also launches its brand extension ‘Simple Life London’ to the marketplace which saw its London BTR Investments JV with EQT Exeter take its first handover of apartments in London at Fresh Wharf, Barking.

Despite challenges posed by the pandemic, Sigma and it’s Simple Life brand position has remained strong and attractive to investment. In August, Sigma was successfully acquired by PineBridge Benson Elliot LLP, moving the company from a plc to privately-owned. The purchase was an all-cash offer of £2.01p per share, which represented a significant premium to the share price at the time. PineBridge’s backing of c.£3bn in to Sigma’s housing pipeline aims to deliver 15,000-20,000 new homes over the next 5 years.

2022

Sigma reaches a milestone of over 5000 Simple Life homes built to date, taking the overall BTR homes delivered for all partners/rental brands to c.6,800.

Despite a challenging year due to the economic climate, Sigma acquired 22 new sites, including a first for Simple Life in the South-West, setting 2023 up to be a very busy and promising year.

Amongst many shortlists, Simple Life/Sigma won 5 awards, including ‘Landlord of the Year’ Award at the Property Week RESI Awards.

Sigma launches a major ESG partnership with The Outward Bound Trust, funding two trips per year, each for 12 young people to benefit from a skill-building, action packed week of adventures. Places are open to Simple Life young adults, charity partners and suppliers.

2023

Sigma reaches a milestone on behalf of The PRS REIT plc, with its 5000th property handover in March 2023.

To date Sigma has built over 7,700 BTR homes to date across all portfolios, with c.3,500 underway.

Sigma acquired a total of 21 new sites in 2023, totalling 1,501 new homes. Stand-out deals included a £59.5m deal with Avant Homes on the acquisition of eight new developments, totalling 306 new homes across the North East, Yorkshire and East Midlands. This deal is expected to generate an additional £3.8m ERV. Other major new development deals include Bennett Street (‘The Gateway’), located in Ardwick, Greater Manchester with Kellen Homes which will see the development of 272 new homes alongside a community hub. In London, Anchor’s Point in Royal Albert Dock was acquired from Telford Homes which will offer 132 duplexes and apartments.

Simple Life was announced winner of Build to Rent Single Family Home (Stonefield Edge) and Social Impact Awards at the Love To Rent Awards, as well as the sustainability and Social Impact Award at the NW Insider Residential Property Awards.

Our Board of Directors

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